Town Planning

The Town Planning Team has set deadlines for 2018 Theme Camp and Art Installation registrations (earlier than in previous years).

Deadline no.1 is 23 December 2017: Apply by this date with all your requests, needs and desires to be considered in full, as every effort will be made to satisfy your expectations.

Deadline no.2 is 10 January 2018: Any applications submitted between Deadline 1 and 2 will be treated as secondary. All effort will be made to consider requests, needs and desires full, though don’t count on having all your requests met.

The Site

Kiwiburn is held on a farm in Hunterville which borders the Rangitikei River. Here is a view from the hill above the site (2017). (photo by Paul Chaffe)

Kiwiburn Town Plan

Kiwiburn varies it’s layout slightly each year depending on which paddocks are available, as well as other factors, some unforseen until the team is on site. Proposed layouts are subject to change at any time.

Town Planning Team 2018

There is a new team working on the layout of our bold and beautiful Town. Emma and Cam (Club Sandwich, The Raspberry Beret and The Giant Weta), and Phoenix (The Hangout) have joined forces to bring some new creativity and flair to the Town Planning role.

Left to right: Emma, Cam, Phoenix

Em is a qualified Town Planner and Social Designer; Cam is a qualified Geographer and Ecological Regenerator; and Phoenix is qualified in Social Systems and Ecological Restoration. All of them are Ecological Designers with varying degrees of experience in Permaculture Design; and the facilitation of ecological and social systems. They’ve each participated at Kiwiburn 2-5 years, and danced in the dust at Burning Man a couple times.They are excited to facilitate a working Town Plan that provides a cohesive scaffolding for the Kiwiburn community to build on. They see this process engaging the wider community as much as possible, and endeavor to dialogue with anyone interested in the layout of this collective experience. They enthusiastically encourage you to offer whatever feedback you have and will lap it all up and evolve accordingly.

Vision

As a sub-whole of the wider Kiwiburn community, The Town Planners are working as an adaptable and flexible team to design an overall Town atmosphere that cultivates a safe and comfortable space for the self-expression of all Kiwiburn participants.

The physical arrangement of the Town cohesively interrelates diverse spaces by considering the flows of people, nature of activity and ecological patterns of the site.

They engage the Kiwiburn community as much as possible in the process to the best of their ability and make every possible effort to ensure all participants, Theme Camps and Art Installations have their voices heard, needs met and feel like valued contributors to their physical community arrangement.

Relevant Constraints

Population: 1800

As of 03/01/2018

Theme Camps: 52

Art Installations: 29

Toilets: 70

Kiwiburn Sound Policy: requires all large sound systems to be North-facing, and trends towards the lower paddock as a quiet zone, and upper paddocks and louder zones. Volume would trend from quieter in the South-East, to louder in the North-West. See official Sound Policy here for more details

Vehicle access: for emergencies, transport, Art Cars, and infrastructure support

It is likely that four paddocks will be utilised. This does not include the area which was General Camping in 2017. nb Available space is subject to change

The Forest remains for ‘Awake & Aware’ use only – no camping

MPW and associated Civic Infrastructure require stable space with high centrality and accessibility

Walking access is viable through vegetation separating paddocks

Limit burn scars as much as possible

Site risks include high winds, falling trees, sun and flooding

Burn perimeter (to be calculated based on weather conditions and final structure)

A fun and more detailed roading system (and thus better Paddock Post).

Concepts

In light of these constraints, The Town Planners have put together a new concept, working with the Operations and Site Safety team and based on the following goals:

Theme Camps will be clustered into inclusive ‘villages’ of similar intent/vibe. These villages are nurtured without limiting diversity or creating segregation;

General Camping will be integrated with Theme Camps in the form of smaller general camping zones nested amongst Theme Camp villages – there will be no ‘General Camping paddock’;

There will be an open, wild, ‘deep playa’ zone;

There will be a clear delineation of safe/quiet zones and party/loud zones with the bottom paddock reserved for quiet activities;

The forest is to remain as an ‘awake and aware’ area reserved for art and daytime workshops;

All communal infrastructure will be functional and accessible; and

The Town will feature no dead or unutilised space. The previous car parking and general camping fields will be integrated fully for art, Theme Camps, General Camping and cars.

Camping Guide

General camping is integrated in designated pockets around Theme Camps in all paddocks

There are four distinct vibes for each paddock: Effigy Paddock is loudest, Grand Bizarre is loud, Temple Paddock is quieter and Lower Paddock is quietest.